Susan on the Corner
by SqutternutBosh
Summary: Susan on the corner came back from her anniversary dinner at the French place near the memorial with a story to tell her friend Rhiannon...


Rhiannon sighed into her steaming mug of tea as she watched her daughter gleefully dismember yet another soldier on that Xbox-Station thing. A part of her was worried about the affect all of this violence would have on the six year old- all those news stories of kids playing video games full of guns and knives and then turning round and killing their parents- but as long as Mica was happy and occupied… She'd be too busy playing the damn thing to knife anybody anyway.

The doorbell rang- it was actually quite rare for visitors to use their doorbell, they'd usually just walk in, she'd almost forgotten what it sounded like. She put the mug down on a coaster- she did not want to add water ring removal to her list of other cleaning duties- and stood up.

'That'll be Susan then,' she told an oblivious Mica, who was still absorbed in shattering the pixellated skulls of clunkily animated soldiers.

One step out of the living room, she opened the door and Susan breezed in, followed by her son Robbie adorned in his usual Bluebirds football shirt.

'Alright, Rhi, how's it going?' she asked, heading straight for the kitchen table in a whirl of faux-leather heels, fitted blouse and bargain mascara. She'd clearly come directly from work at the local hairdressers.

Robbie, without a word, went to join Mica, who handed him a game controller and began to explain her current mission.

'You've gotta kill 'em all,' she explained in that all-knowing manner that young children have when discussing something they enjoy. 'It's really fun cos you get to blow people up. Their legs and arms and stuff come off and explode in the sky!'

Robbie snorted his seven year old laughter and the pair began happily hammering away at the buttons in some semblance of synchronisation.

Susan was pouring herself a cup of tea, a common enough visitor to know exactly where everything was in Rhiannon's kitchen.

'You havin' a mug?' she asked.

'Got one.'

She sat down and took another sip, Susan pulling out the chair beside her.

'How was the anniversary then?'

Susan beamed and Rhiannon saw that some of her baby pink lipstick had smudged onto her front teeth. She chose not to point this out.

'Great, just great. Eight years, can you believe it? My mam never said we'd last this long, but she was wrong, me and Chris have got _at least_ another eight years left in us! He took me to that fancy French place in town and everything.'

'Oh yeah? The one by the memorial or-,'

'Yeah, that one. Real slap-up meal it was too. I had the salmon, Chris had the steak- huge, it was. And the wine! Cost a fortune, but Chris insisted on it. Likes to act like he knows his wine, my Chris, but I don't think he's got a clue really.' She laughed, pausing for breath, before adding, 'Oh, and you'll never guess who I saw there!'

Rhiannon blew on her tea, then stood up. Biscuits, they needed biscuits. She could feel Susan's expectant eyes on her back as she rooted around in the cupboard for the Rich Teas.

'Not someone famous was it?' Her voice bounced back at her from the plywood of the cupboard.

'In Cardiff city centre on a Thursday night? You havin' a laugh?'

Ah, there they were, and still within the best before date too. She took a plate off the stack she'd just washed and dried and poured the packet onto it, broken bits, crumbs and all. Johnny had clearly been at them.

'How am I supposed to guess then, Suse? Could be anyone. Is it someone I know?'

She plonked the plate down between them and snatched up a biscuit, dunking it leisurely into the tea.

'Yeah, definitely someone you know.' Rhiannon watched as the biscuit softened in the hot liquid, then whipped it out and into her mouth before it melted away to the bottom of the mug.

Susan watched her do this, nibbling delicately around the edge of her own biscuit, waiting for an answer.

'Someone I know? Tina, was it? Tina likes to go down the clubs on a Thursday since she don't work Fridays. Wouldn't catch her in one of them fancy places like you went to though, so…'

'Shall I tell you?' Susan interrupted impatiently. This was clearly a story she wanted to tell, Rhiannon could see it in her eyes. 'I'll just tell you then. It was your brother.'

She dunked her biscuit on the word brother as if for emphasis.

'Ianto?'

'That is his name, isn't it?' Susan replied distractedly as she saved her biscuit from a soggy, tea-related death.

'You've seen more of the bugger than I have then, haven't seen him in ages. I mean, he remembered to send a card and some money for Mishe's birthday the other week and we talk on the phone every now and again, but it's always work, work, work with him. Haven't _seen _him in ages.'

Susan nodded along, not really listening to her friend vent.

'That's not the most interesting bit though,' she said, fingers carefully selecting another biscuit. It broke in half when she picked it up. 'He was with someone.'

'Who?'

'A bloke.'

'A mate then.'

Susan looked at Rhiannon as if her brain had just dribbled out of her ear. 'Rhi, what kind've a bloke goes with his mate to a fancy French place like that?'

'He makes good money, I'm sure he could afford to go there if he wanted.'

'With a mate? A _bloke_ mate? This place had candles on the table and all.'

Rhiannon frowned. 'What're you trying to say?'

'I'm saying that your Ianto's… gone to get on the other bus, if you know what I mean.'

Rhiannon did, and thought Susan must be really stuck for gossip if she was spreading stuff like this.

'You could be wrong, y'know, that doesn't really sound like Ianto…'

'Oh no I'm not,' Susan said assuredly. On the other side of the room, Robbie swore at the television screen. 'Robbie!' she screeched. 'What've I told you about copying those words your father says?'

'Don't.'

'Well bloody well don't then.'

Rhiannon wasn't really paying attention, still thinking about what her friend had said.

'How can you be sure?'

'Sure of what?'

'That Ianto and that other bloke were… riding the bus together_._'

'Let's just say they were fairly intimate.'

'Intimate?' Eyebrows raised in surprise. 'How- like what?'

'Like, there was a lot of whispering and- and looks, y'know, _those_ kind've looks when they were eating. Oh! And when they left, Ianto helped the other bloke into his coat. Looked like he'd done it loads of times before.'

'I- well, I- it-,' Rhiannon stuttered. 'But he's always had girlfriends.' It felt like a stupid thing to point out, but it was true.

'Doesn't seem to mean anything these days does it?' Susan was on her fourth biscuit now, gesturing with the snack profoundly. A crumb hit Rhiannon in the face. 'When was the last time you heard him even mention a girlfriend?'

Rhiannon thought for a moment. 'He hasn't, not since Lisa died in that incident in London.'

'Aw, yeah, sad, that was.'

'Been about two years now. No… More than that, nearly three, more like. He hasn't mentioned anybody else. Not like him to say if there was anyway, like I said, he works a lot.'

'Well, looked like there was someone else from where I was sitting last night.'

The pair sat in contemplative silence. Susan took a fifth biscuit, despite her well-renowned protests of 'watching my weight'. Mica cheered as she defeated Robbie at the game they were playing. Robbie sulked and accused Mica of cheating. She hit him with the controller and they started a new game, with Robbie determined not to be beaten by the younger girl again.

'I'll tell you what though,' Susan muttered conspiratorially. 'If Ianto _has _gone bender- and I'm saying that he _has_- he sure knows how to pick 'em.'

'What?' Rhiannon was getting a bit confused, discussing the possible boyfriend of her previously-to-her-own-knowledge straight brother. He could still be perfectly heterosexual for all she knew, this could just be another of Susan's wildly exaggerated stories, where she'd actually seen Ianto and a mate drinking at the bar and let her imagination take over until she could barely remember what she had actually seen.

'That bloke he was with, he was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Looked proper like a film star or something.'

'Really?' Rhiannon felt a strange sense of pride at that.

'Yeah, definitely. Dressed a bit funny though, like some World War Two soldier or the like, but Ianto was wearing a three piece suit, so…'

'What're you trying to say?'

'Nothing. They looked very… _smart_, is all. Seemed pretty happy too.'

'As long as he's happy then…'

'It doesn't bother you?'

'That my brother might be gay?' It felt funny to actually say the words out loud. 'Why should it?'

'It shouldn't. Yeah. Exactly.'

'Wow,' Rhiannon breathed. 'I never thought... But he looked happy though? They weren't, like, fighting or anything?'

'Only over the last mint that came with the bill. Ianto won.'

Rhiannon laughed. 'Good... good. Suse, can I ask you something?'

'Fire away.' A sixth biscuit disappeared between her lipstick-stained teeth, never to be seen again.

'Can you… Can you not tell anyone else what you saw? Not until I've spoken to Ianto about it anyway, don't want to be saying anything that isn't true, do we?' And she knew how much her brother hated being talked about behind his back. How was she going to ask him about this though? What if Susan was wrong, even if her story sounded like it could be completely true? Hopefully Ianto would see the funny side if they were all mistaken.

Susan mimed zipping her lips shut. 'My lips are sealed.' She added a wink, then drained her mug of tea. 'I better be off, Robbie has football and he's still got to have tea. Think there are some fish fingers in the freezer.'

She stood and called over to her son. 'Robbie, come on, we've gotta go.'

'But mum-,' he started.

'No, haven't got time, looks like you're being beaten by a girl anyway- nice one, Mica.'

Mica grinned and Robbie stood up huffily, letting the game controller clatter to the floor.

'See ya then, Rhi,' Susan said. 'Bye Mica!'

'Yeah, bye.'

She and Robbie left, Rhiannon still at the table, tea now cold. Mica paused her game and came over to scrounge one of the remaining biscuits. Rhiannon watched her chew and swallow, looking thoughtful.

'What's up, Mishe?'

'If Uncle Ianto's gay, will I get two uncles?' she asked innocently, wiping the crumbs from her hands onto her trousers.

Oh, so she said had been listening.

'I wouldn't rush into sayin' stuff like that, Mishe,' she started. 'I-,' and was interrupted by the front door swinging open to admit Johnny and David.

David headed straight across to Rhiannon as Johnny shut the door.

'We just saw Chris and he said-,' her son began, but was cut across by his father.

'What's this about your brother going bender, Rhi? I mean, I 'aven't got a problem with it, I just never knew before, 'e never said anything.' The last biscuit was crushed into Johnny's mouth whole, leaving David looking disappointed as he hadn't had one. 'E told you somethin'?'

Rhiannon groaned, and plamed her eyes. She really needed to speak to Ianto.

And buy more biscuits.

…*…

A/N: Yeah, so, not completely sure where that came from, but it was fun to write. I guess it was just a scene I wanted to see.


End file.
